Malaysia is a very special country as about 20% of their citizens are Chinese, the second largest ethnic group in Malaysia, referred to as "Malaysian Chinese". They are different from many other countries, from the almost completely Westernized Chinese, but from the traditional Chinese who have received Chinese education and cultural influence.
One. Malaysian Chinese Source:
Malaysian Chinese are mainly descendants of China who migrated from Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and other places for hundreds of years during the Ming, Qing and Republican periods. This Chinese migration activity is known as "Xia Nanyang", and together with "crossing the Guandong" and "going to the west exit", it is known as one of the three modern Chinese population migrations.
The following details the three main causes and consequences of the Nanyang period and historical developments.
Two. Ming dynasty 16th-17th centuries:
During this period, the Chinese mainly traveled to Southeast Asia for official and maritime trade, as well as some Ming troops and refugees after the defeat of the Qing resistance in the late Ming Dynasty. At this point, the migration of Chinese is smaller.
During this period, the former Chinese intermarried with the locals, gradually forming a new people. Although there is a certain mix of blood and culture, after the formation of the local Chinese community, they usually do not choose to marry the Malay again, but choose the marriage partner from families of the same background or new immigrants from China to avoid assimilation by the Malays.
They still have distinct Chinese characteristics culturally.
III. Qing Dynasty in the 19th Century:
China's migration during this period was mainly labor and its own strength. In order to seek better coastal people's development, this is the first peak period under the South Sea under the Chinese.
At the end of the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty began to decline. People's lives are panicked and impoverished. After the end of the Opium War, China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanjing. The Qing government finally repealed the sea ban law, allowing Western countries to recruit Chinese workers on the southeast coast because applicants had to sign a contract called the "Chinese Worker Contract."
Due to the huge demand for labor by Western colonists in Southeast Asia at the time, the people responsible for recruiting Chinese workers were often referred to as "piglet heads". Driven by huge profits, many people were even kidnapped and coaxed into becoming laborers.
Due to the darkness of industry and state control, some Chinese workers were tortured to death before leaving the country; Due to the extremely poor conditions on board and the long sea journey, a group of people would die of illness or whipping, and eventually reach all over the world.
Even if the project is dangerous for a long time when going abroad, the number of applicants is still endless. Because most of the people who chose this road at that time were poor farmers, many of them could not even eat, and there was no way out. With the recruitment of foreign businessmen, groups of Chinese took the ship of hope and sailed to distant places.
Among these suffering contracts is a great and unknown figure - Ding Long.
Ding Long
He contributed to the establishment of Columbia University's East Asian Department, the first department of sinology in the United States, and made great contributions to the overseas dissemination and research of Chinese culture.
At that time, the Malayan Peninsula was occupied by British colonists in war, Indonesian and Dutch colonists, and the demand was greatest, so a large number of Chinese workers were imported from China to the Malayan Peninsula, and Indonesia became a miner and grower.
In the following centuries, Malaysia and Indonesia also became the most Chinese Southeast Asian countries.
Due to the inhumane treatment of contract Chinese workers by piglets and foreign businessmen, Chinese workers resisted and questioned public opinion in all walks of life. Under pressure, the colonial powers introduced regulations to improve the conditions of Chinese workers.
In 1912, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China promulgated laws prohibiting the trafficking of "piglets" and protecting overseas Chinese, and the coolie trade ended.
IV. The Republican period in the early 20th century:
During this period, Chinese was mainly to improve life and avoid war, which was the second peak period for Chinese migration to Nanyang.
At this time, China was constantly at war, the country was in turmoil, and Southeast Asia was supported by colonial powers. In addition to traditional plantations and mining, new industries such as railways, shipping, finance, and manufacturing have also achieved unprecedented development. Labor shortages and good welfare conditions. Many people from coastal areas go to Nanyang to earn money or live a better life.
Between 1922 and 1939 alone, more than 5 million immigrants left the country from ports such as Xiamen.
At this time, the Nanyang Chinese still cared about the motherland and provided a lot of human, material and financial resources in the Xinhai Revolution and the War of Resistance Against Japan, making great contributions.
Twenty-nine of the 72 martyrs of Huanghuagang are overseas Chinese, and there is still the site of the Sun Yat-sen League in Penang, Malaysia.
After Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China, Malaysian Chinese supported the motherland's war of resistance against Japan. Chinese Malaysians and Chinese Singaporeans donate $4.2 million to the national government every month, with an average of nearly $2 per person per day. According to Chen Jiageng (founder of Xiamen University), in the first 5 years of the Anti-Japanese War, overseas Chinese directly remitted 5 billion yuan to their families!
According to He Yingqin, the annual war expenditure of the Nationalist Government in 1939 was only 1.8 billion yuan, which shows the great contribution of overseas Chinese in Nanyang. However, many of them have never even set foot on Chinese soil in their lifetimes.